Was this borderline illegal?

So I had an interview yesterday morning for a writer/editor position. The company owns several different magazines which I’d be writing for if I got the job.

If you’re somewhat familiar with me and my prior posts, you know that I’m hard of hearing. I wear a hearing aid in the left ear and I’m deaf in my right ear. I cannot understand people if I’m not facing them. I need to be able to see their face and their lips to understand what they’re saying. This tidbit is important later, I promise.

Anyway, our interview was held in their conference room. The guy that was interviewing me, he forgot to bring some of the company’s magazines. So he decided to go back to his office and get them.

I waited in the conference room, naturally. Now I was sitting with my back to the door. I heard the door open and I heard him say something.

But I didn’t understand what he said. So when he sat back down across from me, I asked him to repeat himself. He did, and all was well.

Later on in the interview, I decided to let him know that I was hard of hearing. The guy was a fast talker and I had to REALLY concentrate to get everything that he was saying so I thought it was best to let him know.

When I told him, he said “Oh yeah, I was gonna ask you about that because I noticed that you didn’t hear me earlier when I came in.”

When he said that, my first thought was “Um no buddy, you are not allowed to ask me that. And you shouldn’t have said that.”

But of course, I didn’t say that. I kind of laughed and explained in further detail about my hearing. And we continued the interview like normal.

I recounted the conversation to my SO and he said that since I brought my hearing up first, what the guy said was not illegal.

And I guess he’s technically right…but it’s still bothering me.

Am I wrong to be a little put off by this? I mean, it seems like if I had not said anything, the guy would have brought it up himself. And that’s DEFINITELY illegal.

But I still feel like what he said was sort of wrong. Like the only reason he didn’t ask me about my hearing first is because I beat him to it. That bothers me.

I think you’re overreacting. Workplaces need to provide the supports their employees need (sometimes legally, but it just makes good business). He might have meant it would have come up after you were hired. It might have just been poorly worded, but it was his way of seeing he had already noticed once you did bring it up.

I wasn’t there though 🙂 Did you get a weird vibe from him after it was mentioned, or did it just feel like a typical interview?

Well, it would seem a little strange if I was trying to speak to someone and they didn’t turn around. I might ask if they had heard me, not implying anything about your hearing aid at all. I think it’s harmless, and unless he tells you that you aren’t getting the job because of your hearing, I wouldn’t worry about it. Plus, if you need to be facing people in order to hear and understand them, wouldn’t you disclose that in an interview? What if the interviewer turned his back to you while asking a question, would you just ask him to repeat ad nauseum?

I think you are overreacting a little. He didn’t bring it up until you did, and he may not have at all if you hadn’t. The wording he chose does not neccessarily mean that he actually WAS going to ask you about it. He is more than likely aware of the laws.

I would not be offended by this, it’s a simple conversation over your hearing which you initiated.

@LadyBlackheart: I don’t understand? What is illegal? You’re not allowed to ask someone if they have a hearing problem? That seems a bit strange to me… :-/ Wouldn’t it be kind of important for someone to know that so you didn’t miss anything they said? I don’t think there was anything wrong with it. If I was in an interview with someone who a hearing impairment, I would not judge them for it at all, but I would think it was strange they didn’t tell me and then missed half of what I said because I wasn’t made aware of it. So maybe it’s not PC to ask if someone has an impairment but… illegal?? There are some things that need to be known and I don’t think it’s taboo/illegal/bad etiquette to talk about it.

@LadyBlackheart: I wouldn’t worry about this. I think you were right to say something, even to alleviate a possible issue with your interview/conversation. While it is a “medical issue” I don’t think you’re necessarily divulging health information the way that you did. If you brought it up and he was like, so, have you been deaf from birth? What happened? How often do you need to see a dr about this? Then that’s not okay. But if you’re like, I’m hard of hearing, and he mentions that he thought you were, it’s not an issue UNLESS you are not offered the job and they tell you its’ because of that reason.

Totally overracting. I think it is ridiculous that asking a question like that is Illegal. He isnt offending you, and well the statement is true. You are hard of hearing. It would be different if his comment was actually rude, or a form of harrasment.

@LadyBlackheart: You’re overreacting. He might have really been thinking “Oh yeah, I was going to ask you about that because you didn’t hear me when I came in… but that’s illegal so I didn’t.” In any case, he didn’t ask first and his comment wasn’t at all negative. He was just stating something you both knew happened.

I’m sorry you’re upset about this, I’m sure it’s hard to have a disability of any kind, but I do think you’re over reacting about this incident.

He wasn’t saying anything negative/derogatory, he just said he noticed.. I don’t see the problem? Even if he brought it up first, it is probably something he would need to know if the job requires you to speak to customers not face to face… No?

I think you are overreacting. I probably would have said the exact same thing that your interviewer did. He probably thought it was odd that you didn’t hear him and now that you brought up your difficulty hearing, he put two and two together and was like “Oh thats why!” I don’t think he meant anything negative or offensive by it at all.

As someone who does hiring, applicants with any sort of disabiltiy who want accomodations make it known ahead of time, so the interviewer can be prepared. If you opt not do that, then they have no idea that you’re hard of hearing. I may have thought that you were just daydreaming or not paying attention if I said something that was just ignored.

you’re put off by him telling you he thought about saying something?! He probably realized it was slightly invasive before he said it, but in the end YOU brought it up. He probably said that because he wasn’t sure how else to respond.